Seven Castles Games

Two thousand years have passed since the collapse of civilization. The great nuclear war obliterated nearly all traces of humanity, leaving the planet scorched and desolate. The resulting climate upheaval reawakened dormant volcanoes, reshaping the Earth’s landscape. In this harsh new world, humanity has reverted to its primal roots, becoming hunters and gatherers once more. Yet, in their resilience, they have constructed enormous cities on wheels, endlessly roaming in search of vital resources to sustain life and gain power to rule the world.

Steam Cities is an open-world, adventure game for 1-4 players designed by Hugo Silva. Steam Cities features an entire world to explore, with players trying to survive while scattered across the world.

You begin each game of Steam Cities with a City that you will develop along the time an heading towards an uncharted world, you have complete freedom as to how you explore, discover, and interact with other players by sabotage or trade. Create influence and gain votes by improving your city and gather resources be the first to won the election to rule the world that is in chaos.

Components

Current project status:

Updates:

February 2026: February marked an important step forward for the development of Steam Cities. A key milestone this month was the approval of our Feasibility Grant, which allows us to accelerate artwork, component refinement, and preparation for manufacturing as the game moves closer to production. Development continued with extensive playtesting, ongoing 3D model refinement, and detailed component reviews to ensure durability, usability, and strong table presence. We are currently working toward a production-aligned prototype that will closely represent the final game and can be shared with reviewers. Steam Cities was also submitted to the 2026 Cardboard Edison Awards, receiving a score close to 6 out of 7, highlighting strong feedback on the core design. With prototypes improving and production planning advancing, the cities continue to rise — gear by gear. 🚂

January 2026: January was a month focused on execution and validation as development of Steam Cities continued to move forward. We launched the official pre-campaign page, which will serve as the main hub for future backers, playtesters, and partners preparing for the Kickstarter campaign. At the same time, we expanded playtesting with physical prototypes, testing how components interact on the table and iterating on the 3D models and laser-cut pieces to improve scale, readability, and ergonomics. Much of the work this month centered on ensuring that every design choice reflects real production constraints, not just visual concepts. Steam Cities is steadily evolving from prototype to product — gear by gear as the cities continue to rise.

December 2025: Development of Steam Cities continues to move forward steadily. Over the past weeks we’ve been refining prototypes, expanding playtesting, and improving component design to move closer to a production-ready version of the game. Work has also begun on expansion content and rulebook structure while aligning artwork and manufacturing planning. Our goal is to ensure the game is production-ready before the Kickstarter campaign launches, not just concept-ready. More updates soon as the cities continue to rise. 🚂🏙

November 2025: November was a month of creative, mechanical, and structural breakthroughs for Steam Cities, as we entered a major development milestone with redesigned components, expanding art and 3D models, ongoing animation work, a stabilising rulebook, escalating blind testing, and the drafting of what may become the game’s final visual design the steam never sleeps.

October 2025: 70+ playtests complete and the machines keep turning! Refined balance, sharper rules, and Steam Cities Duel now in testing — full steam toward Kickstarter 2026.

September 2025: Halfway to 100 playtests! New rebalanced prototypes, updated 3D city models, and refined gameplay are ready to showcase at Gaelcon 37.

August 2025: Playtesting led to a full rebalance this month: Laws and Events were scaled back to prevent early endings, Ministers’ powers are now limited to once per year, and all City upgrades are standardized at 10 VP with adjusted difficulty for more strategic choices. Rules were also clarified: 1 Turn = 1 Season, 1 Year = 4 Turns.

July 2025: July brought a game-changing new feature with Law Cards, deeper testing and tuning, and real progress on funding and production planning — setting the stage for the next big leap forward.

June 2025: Behind the scenes, we focused on solidifying the business, refining the design, and reigniting playtesting — all to ensure Steam Cities moves toward a bold, balanced, and beautifully built future.

May 2025: Rulebook: Introduced limited trade exchanges with the Global Treasury, Game Balance: Adjusted economic costs for better pacing, Ministers: Rewritten some confusing text for clarity, Milestone Completed: The full gameplay loop is now functioning, with players beginning to immerse themselves in the world, Next Step: Blind playtesting resumes June 7 at The Black Sheep, Dublin.

April 2025: The Minister deck has been reworked for deeper strategy, with art direction in progress.

March 2025: The Minister deck has been streamlined, Tabletopia is ready, and blind playtesting is on the horizon!

February 2025: Steam Cities is leveling up with key updates, including enhanced Trade Agent benefits, new Minister interactions, rebalanced battle cards, refined sabotage mechanics, improved solo AI, an updated rulebook, and an ongoing artist search, all leading up to blind playtesting, every detail is being refined to make the game unforgettable!

January 2025: Conducting playtests, redesign of player mats and fine tune singleplayer AI.

December 2024: Conducting playtests on the latest iteration, which includes rebalanced city upgrades phases, while also working on the single-player AI

Links:

Playtesters

BGG

Youtube play list

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